Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil. (Public Management and Governance)
This study focuses on a framework for the sustainable policy implementation of the Mining Charter of 2002, with specific reference to the role of women in the South African mining industry. The goal of this empowerment charter is to create an industry that will reflect the promise of a non-racial South Africa. This includes ensuring a ten percent participation of women by 2009.
The main research question addressed by this study is: What are the factors involved in determining the sustained implementation of the Mining Charter of 2002 and how can it be effectively implemented and strengthened in order to ensure the compliance by the mining employers in terms of the role and targets for women in the mining industry?
The thesis provided an integrated focus on outputs in terms of implementing reform policies with regard to the employment of females in the mines. Furthermore, it investigates certain outcomes in terms of how the mining environment has adapted to female employment and policy conversion processes in terms of what the barriers are to the successful implementation of the Mining Charter of 2002. This ensured that both policy products and processes were subjected to systematic and integrative evaluation. The problem was also viewed from the current level of success in implementing similar empowerment policies in other countries, such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, as well as certain African countries.
The thesis also aimed to develop a substantive theory for an organisational change process in terms of the conditions of women working underground in the mines. This will enable mining employers to identify selected resource inputs, as well as process outputs and outcomes. Ultimately, this will ensure sustained compliance to the spirit and requirements of the Mining Charter, within the context of the transformation of the South African society and legislation as a whole. A modernist qualitative research methodology was followed, where casing was applied as the research design and grounded theory as the research strategy. A qualitative coding paradigm was developed in terms of the physical, social, cultural and psychological construction of employees in the mining environment’s perceptions, experiences, attitudes and behaviour with regard to the implementation of the Mining Charter of 2002.
The findings of the empirical study generally indicated that the picture that scholars and role-players (for example the women working underground) paint on the South African mining industry with regard the employment of women in the mines – specifically in an underground environment – is not as bleak as one might think. However, some improvements are still needed in order to comply with targets, as well as creating better working conditions for women employed in the mining industry. The study contributed to the development of theory and research methodology. Furthermore, on a practical level, it contributed to the disciplinary fields of Public Management and Public Governance.